Pope names Bishop Tagle as new archbishop of Manila

Pope Benedict XVI has named Imus Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle as the new Manila archbishop, succeeding Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales who occupied the post for eight years, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced Thursday. The archbishop of Manila has traditionally been among the most politically influential Catholic priests in the world. Among Tagle's predecessors was Jaime Cardinal Sin, who helped bring down the dictator Ferdinand Marcos by calling for people power in 1986. The CBCP received the information through a communiqué from the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila after Tagle's appointment was announced in Rome at 6 p.m. Manila time. “I write to inform you that the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has appointed His Excellency Most Reverend Luis Antonio Tagle, until now Bishop of Imus, as Archbishop of Manila," said charge d’ affaires Monsignor Gabor Pinter. No date yet has been set for the ordination and installation of the new Manila archbishop, the CBCP said. Also, the CBCP said Rosales submitted his resignation in 2007 when he turned 75, the mandatory retirement age for bishops, but the Pope extended his term indefinitely. Early this year, Rosales said the Pope had accepted his resignation and was just awaiting his successor’s appointment, the CBCP said. Having received word of the revelation of his new mission assignment, Tagle said, "I face this heavy responsibility with much trepidation. Leaving the Diocese of Imus, my beloved home, at the threshold of its Golden Jubilee is not easy. But faith in the gracious Lord and love of the Church give me strength." "I know that I would find much good will and zeal for mission in the clergy, religious and lay faithful of the Archdiocese of Manila," Tagle added. Theologian, formator and evangelizer Tagle currently chairs the CBCP’s Commission on Doctrine of the Faith. The incoming Manila archbishop took his philosophy and theology studies at the San Jose Major Seminary based in the Ateneo de Manila University, said the CBCP. He was born on June 21, 1957, and was ordained to the priesthood on February 27, 1982 at the age of 25. He earned his doctorate in sacred theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, where he studied from 1985 to 1992. He has been a member of the International Theological Commission of the Vatican since 1997, and sat as an expert at the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Asia in Rome. He was ordained Bishop of Imus on December 12, 2001. Tagle hosts an hour-long, weekly religious television program, The Word Exposed (TWE), telecast on three local channels and uploaded to his Facebook page and to YouTube. TWE is produced by the Jesuit Communications Foundation based at the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2008, Tagle presented a reflection for the Vatican's International Eucharistic Congress. Tagle was among several clergy who celebrated Catholic mass and spoke during the funeral rites for the late former President Corazon Aquino in August 2009. — LBG/HS/ELR, GMA News